Taylor Swift’s ‘Shake It Off’ copyright lawsuit dismissed after 5 years
The lawsuit, which was originally filed by songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler in 2017, claimed that Swift stole lyrics from 3LW’s 2001 song “Playas Gon’ Play” to write her hit anthem “Shake It Off.”
Taylor Swift was sued for allegedly plagiarizing her song “Shake It Off.”Taylor Swift Vevo/YouTube
Taylor Swift was finally able to “shake off” a copyright lawsuit after nearly five years.However, attorneys for the Grammy-winning singer and the two songwriters filed a joint stipulation on Monday asking a California court to drop the lawsuit “in its entirety,” according to court documents obtained by Page Six.U.S. District Judge Michael Fitzgerald officially dismissed the lawsuit that same day with prejudice just weeks before its trial was set to begin.
Two songwriters for the group 3LW sued Swift in 2017.WireImage
The win for Swift comes just four months after the songstress broke her silence on the matter, saying she had “never heard” the song she was accused of plagiarizing.“The lyrics to ‘Shake It Off’ were written entirely by me,” the singer claimed in court documents, according to Billboard.Hall and Butler originally claimed that the 33-year-old took the “Playas gon’ play / And haters, they gon’ hate” lines they wrote to come up with “Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play / And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.”
The 33-year-old songstress denied the allegations.
However, Swift vehemently denied the allegations and said the lyrics “players gonna play” and “haters gonna hate” were common phrases “uttered countless times.”
“In writing the lyrics, I drew partly on experiences in my life and, in particular, unrelenting public scrutiny of my personal life, ‘clickbait’ reporting, public manipulation, and other forms of negative personal criticism which I learned I just needed to shake off and focus on my music.”
Swift says the song lyrics were written “entirely” by her.
While the “Bad Blood” singer may be done with this lawsuit, she is facing another copyright lawsuit over a book she released in 2019.
Back in August, author Teresa La Dart sued Swift for more than a million dollars claiming that she copied her poetry book, “Lover,” for the companion booklet for Swift’s “Lover” album.
The singer is no stranger when it comes to copyright lawsuits.
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